1976 Italian Grand Prix

The 1976 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in Monza, Italy on 12 September 1976.[4] The race, contested over 52 laps, was the thirteenth round of the 1976 Formula One season. It was also the 45th running of the Italian Grand Prix, the 23rd which was a part of the World Championship. Ronnie Peterson took the March team's last victory in Formula One, and his only with the team. Ferrari driver Clay Regazzoni finished the race in second position and polesitter Jacques Laffite completed the podium for Ligier. This was the last time Ferrari entered more than two cars for a race.

1976 Italian Grand Prix
Race 13 of 16 in the 1976 Formula One season
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Race details
Date September 12, 1976
Official name XLVII Gran Premio d'Italia[1]
Location Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 5.800 km (3.6 mi)
Distance 52 laps, 301.6 km (187.2 mi)
Pole position
Driver Ligier-Matra
Time 1:41.35[2]
Fastest lap
Driver Ronnie Peterson March-Ford
Time 1:41.3 on lap 50[3]
Podium
First March-Ford
Second Ferrari
Third Ligier-Matra

The race saw the return of World Championship leader Niki Lauda to the sport after his serious crash at the German Grand Prix - he finished this race in fourth place.

Background

Monza had been modified from the year before. The circuit featured 2 consecutive left-right chicanes creating the Variante del Rettifilo, added before the Curva Grande, and a left-right chicane called Variante della Roggia that was added before the first Lesmo curve.

Qualifying

The qualifying session on Friday was wet, so the dry session on Saturday was to provide the field with their best times. After this session, Brett Lunger, Arturo Merzario and the very slow Otto Stuppacher had failed to qualify. John Watson qualified in eighth position, with James Hunt ninth and Jochen Mass tenth, but their times were later disallowed due to fuel irregularities. This meant that their Friday times counted for their grid positions. As a result, these three drivers were the three slowest and were deemed not to have qualified, allowing Lunger, Merzario and Stuppacher on to the grid.

Stuppacher had already left the circuit and flown back home to Austria, so could not take his place on the grid. This promoted Hunt back into the 26 qualifiers. Merzario withdrew and promoted Mass, and later Guy Edwards also decided to withdraw in order to let Watson race.

Qualifying classification

PosNo.DriverConstructorLapGap
1 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 1:41.35
2 3 Jody Scheckter Tyrrell-Ford 1:41.38 + 0.03
3 8 Carlos Pace Brabham-Alfa Romeo 1:41.53 + 0.18
4 4 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 1:42.06 + 0.71
5 1 Niki Lauda Ferrari 1.42.09 + 0.74
6 34 Hans Joachim Stuck March-Ford 1:42.18 + 0.83
7 35 Carlos Reutemann Ferrari 1:42.38 + 1.03
8 10 Ronnie Peterson March-Ford 1:42.64 + 1.29
9 2 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 1:42.96 + 1.61
10 22 Jacky Ickx Ensign-Ford 1:43.29 + 1.94
11 7 Rolf Stommelen Brabham-Alfa Romeo 1:43.29 + 1.94
12 6 Gunnar Nilsson Lotus-Ford 1:43.30 + 1.95
13 40 Larry Perkins Boro-Ford 1:43.32 + 1.97
14 5 Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 1:43.34 + 1.99
15 16 Tom Pryce Shadow-Ford 1:43.63 + 2.28
16 9 Vittorio Brambilla March-Ford 1:43.94 + 2.59
17 17 Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Ford 1:44.05 + 2.70
18 19 Alan Jones Surtees-Ford 1:44.41 + 3.06
19 24 Harald Ertl Hesketh-Ford 1:44.56 + 3.21
20 30 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 1:44.57 + 3.22
21 37 Alessandro Pesenti-Rossi Tyrrell-Ford 1:44.62 + 3.27
22 38 Henri Pescarolo Surtees-Ford 1:45.12 + 3.77
23 25 Guy Edwards Hesketh-Ford 1:45.79 + 4.44
24 18 Brett Lunger Surtees-Ford 1:46.48 + 5.13
25 20 Arturo Merzario Wolf-Williams-Ford 1:47.31 + 5.96
26 39 Otto Stuppacher Tyrrell-Ford 1:55.22 + 13.87
27 11 James Hunt McLaren-Ford 2:08.76 + 27.41
28 12 Jochen Mass McLaren-Ford 2:11.06 + 29.71
29 28 John Watson Penske-Ford 2:13.95 + 32.60

Race

At the start, Jody Scheckter in the Tyrrell led ahead of Laffite's Ligier and teammate Patrick Depailler with Lauda down in the midfield. Mass, despite being promoted to 25th after Merzario withdrew, retired on lap 3 with ignition problems. McLaren's misfortunes didn't end there as Hunt, who had no chance of winning had tried to charge his way up through the field and spun off into gravel trap at the first corner chicane on lap 12. Peterson in the March had begun his charge up the field and took the lead on lap 15 as Scheckter dropped out of the top 4 leaving Peterson to battle with Depailler, Regazzoni and Laffite. Meanwhile, Hans Joachim Stuck in the other March collided with the Lotus of Mario Andretti on lap 24 forcing both drivers to retire. In the closing stages Depailler was suffering from engine problems but eventually finished 6th as Lauda got past both the Tyrrells for 4th place. Peterson took his first win in 2 years by 2.3 seconds over Regazzoni followed by Laffite in a strong third 3 seconds behind Peterson with Lauda fourth and the Tyrrells of Scheckter and Depailler rounding out the top 6.

Race classification

PosNoDriverConstructorLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
1 10 Ronnie Peterson March-Ford 52 1:30:35.6 8 9
2 2 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 52 + 2.3 9 6
3 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 52 + 3.0 1 4
4 1 Niki Lauda Ferrari 52 + 19.4 5 3
5 3 Jody Scheckter Tyrrell-Ford 52 + 19.5 2 2
6 4 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 52 + 35.7 4 1
7 9 Vittorio Brambilla March-Ford 52 + 43.9 16  
8 16 Tom Pryce Shadow-Ford 52 + 52.9 15  
9 35 Carlos Reutemann Ferrari 52 + 57.5 7  
10 22 Jacky Ickx Ensign-Ford 52 + 1:12.4 10  
11 28 John Watson Penske-Ford 52 + 1:42.2 27  
12 19 Alan Jones Surtees-Ford 51 + 1 Lap 18  
13 6 Gunnar Nilsson Lotus-Ford 51 + 1 Lap 12  
14 18 Brett Lunger Surtees-Ford 50 + 2 Laps 24  
15 30 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 50 + 2 Laps 20  
16 24 Harald Ertl Hesketh-Ford 49 Halfshaft 19  
17 38 Henri Pescarolo Surtees-Ford 49 + 3 Laps 22  
18 37 Alessandro Pesenti-Rossi Tyrrell-Ford 49 + 3 Laps 21  
19 17 Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Ford 47 + 5 Laps 17  
Ret 7 Rolf Stommelen Brabham-Alfa Romeo 41 Fuel System 11  
Ret 34 Hans Joachim Stuck March-Ford 23 Accident 6  
Ret 5 Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 23 Accident 14  
Ret 11 James Hunt McLaren-Ford 11 Spun Off 25  
Ret 40 Larry Perkins Boro-Ford 8 Engine 13  
Ret 8 Carlos Pace Brabham-Alfa Romeo 4 Engine 3  
Ret 12 Jochen Mass McLaren-Ford 2 Ignition 26  
DNS 25 Guy Edwards Hesketh-Ford Withdrew 23  
DNS 20 Arturo Merzario Wolf-Williams-Ford   Withdrew  
DNS 39 Otto Stuppacher Tyrrell-Ford Withdrew    
Source:[5][6]

Championship standings after the race

  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Only the best 7 results from the first 8 races and the best 7 results from the last 8 races counted towards the Championship. Numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored. Points do not reflect final results of 1976 British Grand Prix as it was under appeal.

References

  1. "1976 Italian GP". www.chicanef1.com. Retrieved 2020-08-02.
  2. Lang, Mike (1983). Grand Prix! Vol 3. Haynes Publishing Group. p. 145. ISBN 0-85429-380-9.
  3. Lang, Mike (1983). Grand Prix! Vol 3. Haynes Publishing Group. p. 147. ISBN 0-85429-380-9.
  4. "1976 Italian Grand Prix Entry list". Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  5. "1976 Italian Grand Prix starting grid". Formula1.com. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  6. "1976 Italian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 10 December 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  7. "Italy 1976 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
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